Reforming corporatism: The French banking policy community, 1941–1990

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Abstract
This article examines the changes in the policy community concerned with the regulation and supervision in banking in the period from 1940 to 1990. It takes as its departure Michael Moran's observation that meso‐corporatism has tended to characterise regulation in this sphere but that this regulation has become more juridified, codified and institutionalised in the postwar period. The article argues that France conforms broadly to this observation. Yet, in tracing the changes in France, it becomes evident that the changes in corporatism between 1941 and 1990 indicate a considerable shift in power in the policy community. They representan assertion of state control over the policy system. To capture fully the nature of these changes, the article argues that one gains from introducing the concepts of boundary and decision‐making rules. The argument concludes with a brief consideration of the reasons for the retention of certain institutional specificities in France.